The Adventures of a Tiny Metal Bender
by lancer365
Summary: Short stories about Suyin raising a young Kuvira. Chapter 1: Like any other 4 year old, Kuvira has a hard time getting to sleep.


**The Adventures of a Tiny Metal-Bender**

152 AG

Kuvira sat up in her bed looking around the dark room, holding the stuffed bagermole Suyin had given to her close to her chest. Less than an hour ago Suyin had put the very reluctant little girl to sleep. But as kids are, she still felt full of restless energy and therefore, couldn't get to sleep. Throwing her short legs over the side of the bed, she hopped down, sliding the stuffed animal off with her. She slowly crossed the room heading to the door, before reaching up to grab at the handle; missing it on the first try as her eyes adjusted to the night.

A creak sounded as Kuvira opened the door gently, peering down the hallway with anxious eyes. Swallowing her fear, she took her first steps into the hall, before standing in place to look up at the walls that towered over her. Her eyes set her destination as she moved forward; feeling the cold touch of the metal ground under her feet that sent chills through her with every step.

Looking around, the dark corridors of the house seemed to share as much tension in the silence as no man's land on the battlefield of war. Shadows cast on the walls by the few lamps around, took on the creepy forms only a child's mind could imagine.

Making her way to the top of the staircase, she stopped and looked down at the bottom. Tentatively she moved each foot down step-by-step, dragging the bagermole on the floor behind her.

Turning down another hallway, Kuvira saw light coming from what she knew was Suyin's office. Her paced quickened as she made her way closer to the office, eager to see if the older woman was indeed still awake.

Suyin always put the kids to bed early; even though it was no secret that she would often stay awake into the early hours of the morning, working through contracts and other agreements.

Escaping the darkness, Kuvira opened the cracked door enough for her to squeeze through. Looking over the room, the little girl's mouth broke into a smile as she spotted a sleeping Suyin lying on the couch, exhausted from the day's work. She walked into the space between the table and Suyin, taking notice of the pen on the ground that had fallen out of the woman's hand. Picking it up, she looked at the shiny metal in awe before turning her attention back to Suyin.

"Pssssst…" Kuvira poked the woman in the arm only to receive no response. "Pssssssssst…"

After the second futile attempt Kuvira decided to take more drastic measures. Climbing up onto Suyin, she pushed a hand into the woman's side for leverage as she reached a foot up to step on Suyin's thigh.

As Suyin began to stir, the girl managed to make her way into her lap, sitting up in the process.

Suyin opened her eyes to see a blurry little figure sitting up facing her; knowing it was Kuvira she sighed. "What are you doing up?" she blinked her eyes a few more times as the image of Kuvira's face became clearer and clearer.

"I can't sleep" the girl pouted, folding her arms over her chest.

"More like you don't want to go to sleep, right?" Suyin said, raising an eyebrow at Kuvira's guilty smile before yawning and turning her head to look at the pile papers on the table. It was another one of those nights where she had fallen asleep again while reading the construction contracts for Zaofu.

"What are these?" Kuvira said, as her eyes were drawn to the dark framed glasses lying on Suyin's chest.

Without answering the girl, Suyin looked to the floor, reaching down to pick up the papers that had fallen from her hand.

'_I could have sworn I had a pen'_ she thought before looking back to Kuvira with a suspicious expression on her face. "hmmm…"

Kuvira held Suyin's glasses up to her face, mesmerized at the new look of the world around her. Suyin poked the girl in the side to get her attention. "Where did my pen go?"

"I have it!" Kuvira said, holding it up as the glasses began to slide from her face.

Suyin took the pen from Kuvira's small hand, noticing the drool and tiny scratch marks in the metal. "Aaaaaand…you chewed on it." Suyin said, examining the pen before cleaning it off on her shirt.

"Wooo…these are cool." Kuvira ignored Suyin as she fell on her back between the woman's legs, looking up at the magnified ceiling as though she were stargazing.

Suyin smiled "Hey, I need those back." She reached out for her glasses, as the little girl sat up and put them back on Suyin's face in a crooked fashion. Smiling again, she straightened her reading glasses as she held the document up to her face, obscuring her from Kuvira's view. "You should be in bed…"

"I don't wanna sleep."

"I promise you you're more tired than you think." Suyin said, attempting to read the contract agreement in front of her. She had to get at least some of this work done before Bataar came back from his trip.

Kuvira peeked her head around the contract to look at Suyin, before tunneling under it; forcing the woman to raise her arms as she made room for the girl.

Suyin sighed, watching Kuvira turn around to look at the papers in her hand. "Ok, you have five more minutes up here." She paused, holding up five fingers to emphasize her point. "Then you're going back to bed; you got it?"

Kuvira stayed silent as her small fingers reached to grab Suyin's hand. With her tongue stuck out from between her teeth, she breathed through her nose; staring with an intense concentration as she inspected the larger hand.

Suyin looked down at the girl still playing with her hand, as her mind drifted back to her earliest memories of Kuvira. She had taken in Kuvira about a year after Bataar Jr. was born. There was something special about this little girl and Suyin could see it written in her eyes; _she_ was destined to achieve greatness. And molding that greatness was to be one of Suyin's most important duties. In the years to come, there would be no telling as to the extent of what Kuvira would be capable of. The determination already set in her eyes at such a young age, was enough to guarantee her success in the future.

Focusing back to the present, Suyin watched the girl trace the lines of her palm. "What are you doing with my hand?" She smiled as Kuvira shrugged, placing her own palm in the center of Suyin's, as her eyes glazed over in wonderment at the size difference.

"When are my hands going to be this big?" Kuvira said, not bothering to look up at Suyin.

"Never…" Suyin laughed as the girl looked at her with wide eyes. "Relax; I'm just joking with you." She finished, moving her eyes back over to the document she had forgotten about.

"What are this?" Kuvira asked, losing interest in Suyin's hand, as she gazed at the words she couldn't pronounce on the paper.

Distracted again from her reading at the girl's voice; Suyin corrected the obvious grammatical mistake. "You mean, what _is_ this?" She smiled; her eyes shifting down to see Kuvira nod her head.

"Just boring adult stuff you won't have to worry about for a long time."

For weeks, Suyin had been busy working through all the requirements for land ownership, in order to make sure Zaofu could adhere to the Earth Kingdom land codes before the main city was built. Writing requests and reading tirelessly through piles of documents was proving to be the hardest part of building Zaofu; not the constant construction.

"And the signer agrees…blah blah…to the clauses in this contract." Suyin dropped her hand still holding onto the papers. "Ugh…I really should have gotten Bataar to do this part." She finished raking her other hand over her face.

Bringing the papers back up, she looked down at the girl who had gone silent; now fast asleep with her mouth hanging open. Suyin smirked, using her finger to push Kuvira's jaw closed. "So, this stuff put you to sleep too, huh?"

Sighing once again, she took her glasses off, placing them and the papers on the floor. It probably wasn't the wisest move, but at the moment she was too tired to reach for the table that seemed so far away.

Stretching her arms out above her head, she glanced out the window, watching the early morning sun begin to break through.

'_It has definitely been over five minutes' _she thought, looking down at Kuvira with a smug smile crossing her face.

Nestled between Suyin's arms the little girl slept content, as each inhale brought with it a small snore. Kuvira wasn't always the easiest kid to take care of, but she made up for it through moments like these. Finally closing her eyes, Suyin allowed herself to be pulled back into the void of sleep.

She could always finish her work later on.

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><p><strong>Author's Note: SOOO….this is something quick and normal for a change. Trust me, it's not as crack-ish as my usual stuff . lol. ;) I hope you all enjoyed it….or got <em>something<em> out of it .lol :) OH and if you're wondering about ages: Suyin is 26 and Kuvira is 4. I know Suyin took her in when she was 8; but I just wondered what it would be like if Kuvira was with her at an earlier age. She was probably SUPER cute as a Kid.**


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